


Forced Empathy

by tptigger



Category: Power Rangers Megaforce
Genre: Alternate episode, Episode: Love Is In The Air, Gen, in which Jake realizes he's getting a taste of his own medicine, it takes me forever to edit ok?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 09:21:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20112790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: An alternate version of "Love is In the Air" in which Jake realizes that he and Levira are more alike than he realizes.





	Forced Empathy

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Riv for the beta.  
I drafted this as part of Nano... 2014? I think. Maybe 2015. Anyway, I finally edited the puppy and I hope you enjoy it.

"You want to go back to work on our soccer video?" Noah asked after they'd cleared the battle field of the checkerboard monster and his strange x-borgs that had run right past him in favor of attacking Jake.

"I'm wondering if we should talk to Gosei," Troy said. "It's really weird that the X-borgs went straight past you and after Jake like that."

Jake shook his head. "Can we not bother Gosei about this? I don't want to be a pain."

Troy frowned. "OK, but if anything else out of the ordinary happens to you."

"Straight to the Command Center," Jake said. "Promise."

Troy's frown deepened, but he nodded.

Noah clapped him on the shoulder, "It's OK, man, I'll be with him for the rest of the afternoon."

Troy nodded, frowning as Noah and Jake walked off.

"He's a big boy," Gia said, "he can take care of himself."

"I know," Troy said. "I just have a bad feeling about this."

"Let's check on Orion," Emma said. "Where was he?"

"Good point," Troy said.

* * *

Jake walked into the hallway at school the next day to have Troy fall into step with him.

"Orion's hanging out in the dugout on the south lawn, just out of sight." Troy's eyes darted around the hallway, as if looking for threats.

"Wait, is that why he was lurking in my bushes last night?" Jake asked. "Did you put him up to it?"

"You noticed someone in the bushes and didn't say anything?"

"I noticed _Orion_ in the bushes and didn't say anything when he ignored his morpher and glared at me. I figured we'd talk about it after school or he was overcompensating for not showing up to attack the weird X-borgs yesterday. Did you order him not to speak to me, too?" Jake spun the dial on his locker to open it. "I mean, really, Troy, I..." he stopped, staring at his locker. "Well, hello."

A bunch of purple and orange flowers was perched neatly on top of his books in his locker.

"They're not from Gia," Troy said.

Jake rolled his eyes. "Duh. They'd be yellow." He picked them up, looking for a card. "Hmm. It says 'meet me on the soccer field at 4.'"

"Trap," Troy said.

"What's a trap?" Gia asked, coming up from behind Troy. She caught sight of the flowers and the color drained from her face.

"Don't worry, I'm not going," Jake said, taking in Gia's discomfort.

"Good. It's a trap," Troy said.

"What's a trap?" Emma asked, joining them. She put a hand on Gia's shoulder. "Gia are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine." Gia shifted her bag on her shoulder, her eyes on the floor.

"Jake got flowers from a secret admirer," Troy said.

"He what?" Noah grabbed the card from Jake's hand. "Dude, you should go!"

"Noah!" Jake said, cocking his head at Gia.

Emma glanced at Gia, frowning. "Maybe you should go."

"After yesterday?" Troy asked. "Are you crazy? What if it's a trap for whatever the Armada has planned for Jake?"

"This from the guy who set Orion to watch over my house yesterday." Jake crossed his arms.

"He was feeling kind of bad for missing the battle," Emma said.

"Jake should go," Noah said. He draped an arm around Jake's shoulders. "It might be good for him."

"I don't want to go," Jake pointed out.

"No, you should," Emma said. Her eyes darted to Gia.

"Guys, trap," Troy insisted.

"And what if it's not and he misses out on meeting someone really cool?" Emma asked.

"I already know someone really cool!" Jake insisted.

"Gia?"

She jumped at Troy's voice. "What?"

"Do you think it's a trap?"

"It could be," Gia said, quietly. She glanced at Jake. nervously.

"See, I shouldn't go!" Jake said.

"No, I didn't mean... just..." Gia stammered, searching for her usual composure. "Maybe he just shouldn't go alone." She settled, then, managing a cheery smile.

"You don't have to defend your territory, Gia," Jake said, "I'm all yours."

Gia rolled her eyes. "No, Emma and Noah are right, this is a good opportunity for him, he should go. We should just you know, take precautions in case it _is_ a trap."

"Or that weird checkerboard guy who was after Jake yesterday decides to take advantage of a Ranger out in the open," Emma said. "Gia's right. We should all be nearby, just in case."

"Look, guys, this isn't really necessary, I don't want to go," Jake said.

Troy looked at the girls, who were looking at him with earnest faces, then at Noah, whose eyes kept flicking to Gia.

What was he missing?

The bell rang.

"Come on," Troy said, grabbing Jake by the collar. "I'm walking you to class."

* * *

"You really need to go, Jake," Noah said as they came out of their seventh period class. "We've got it all set, you'll be safe the whole time."

"I don't want to..." he was interrupted by his morpher going off.

Jake and Noah ducked into the computer lab, to be quickly joined by Troy, Gia, and Emma.

"We're all here Gosei," Troy said, opening his morpher.

"The monster that attacked Jake and Noah on the soccer field yesterday is attacking civilians downtown!" Tensou said a little too loudly down the comm link. Jake could practically hear the little robot bouncing forward and back to work off his nervousness.

Jake pumped his fist. "Yes! We have to go!"

The others looked at him incredulously. "I mean, that's horrible! We'd better go save those people!"

They rushed out of the school.

* * *

They entered the city morphed, and the checkerboard monster went straight for Jake, hands flying. Troy intercepted it easily with his sword.

"What the heck?" Troy asked.

"Stay away from her, she's mine!" the monster shouted.

"Who? What?" Jake asked.

There was a flash of light, and before anyone could further clarify, a purple monster covered in red veins appeared in front of them. He whipped his metal tentacle arm at Noah, knocking him over. Jake shot the new monster with his pistol and raced over to his friend.

"Are you okay?" Jake asked, helping Noah up.

"Fine, where did he come from?" Noah asked.

"We're fighting two of them now, we need to..." Troy stopped in mid-sentence. "Hey, where did Checker board guy go?"

"He knew I could finish you all on my own," the alien cracked its whip hand, sending sparks darting between the Rangers.

The monster buckled, falling flat. Orion stood behind him, his gun smoking. "Hey, now might be a good time for the Super Mega Canon."

The others looked at him, then drew out their weapons, putting them together while Orion fought the tentacled monster.

The canon charged and fired, laying the monster out, until, of course, it grew.

"Just once can't it shrink?" Jake whined.

"Nope," Troy said, calling the Sky Ship.

The zord battle went down just like every other zord battle and soon the monster was blown up for good.

"OK, let's get back to the soccer field before Jake's secret admirer decides to leave," Emma said excitedly.

"Ooh, yeah, if the monsters were here, it probably wasn't a trap," Gia said.

"We should probably follow at a discreet distance just to be safe," Orion said.

"Which part of 'I don't want to go I like someone else' do you guys not understand?" Jake said. "Besides, anyone worth anything would have left by now anyway."

"You know, he does have a point," Troy said. "I mean, who waits over half an hour for someone who hasn't said yes to a date?"

Gia coughed in a manner that sounded suspiciously like "Jake."

"Let's just go check the place out," Noah suggested, "real casually. You know, see if anyone's there."

Jake sighed. "I'm not going to get you to give up, am I?"

"Nope," Noah said.

"Fine," Jake said. "Lead on, MacDuff."

Gia rolled her eyes. "It's 'lay on.'"

They headed back towards the school, stopping at the corner of the building. Troy held his arm out to stop Jake from going any further.

"Let me just check first," Troy said.

"Does that mean I can run away if she's really ugly?" Jake asked. "Ow!"

Emma had elbowed him in the gut. Hard.

"I'm allowed to run away from Dominque LaRoque right?" Jake asked. "She spent all of sixth grade putting gum in my hair."

"To be fair, you had gotten paint on her favorite sweater in art class!" Noah said.

"By accident," Jake said. "And I paid for the cleaning!"

"I told you it was a trap," Troy said as he leaned around the side of the building.

Gia and Emma leaned out, their heads stacking under his.

"Oh my gosh," Emma said.

"It's Levira!" Gia said.

"She probably overheard us saying we were going here and came out to ambush us while we're tired," Noah said, stacking with the others.

Jake sighed. "So, morphed?"

"Probably wisest," Troy said. "It's Morphin' Time."

"Super Mega Mode!" they chorused.

Jake yawned. "I hope we don't have to go legendary, I'm already beat."

They walked cautiously out onto the school field.

"Hey, Levira," Troy said. "What do you think you're doing here?"

"I'm here to take care of my love!" The green monster rushed towards them. "Jakey-poo!"

"Aw man," Jake said, starting to run away.

The others formed a barrier between him and Levira. 

"Go away," Emma said.

"I like someone else!" Jake called from behind them. "I don't like you!"

"But I can..."

"I don't like you." Jake yawned.

"Oh, you're tired from the battle," Levira said. "We'll talk when you've rested." She raised her arm and disappeared, presumably back up to the armada ship.

"What. The. Heck?" Jake asked.

"I guess we know who was behind yesterday's kidnap attempt," Orion said. "She probably scared off whoever sent you the flowers."

"How do we know Levira didn't send the flowers?" Troy asked.

"Wouldn't she have just broken down Jake's locker or something?" Orion asked. "I'd have heard that."

"It wasn't broken," Jake said. "I figured someone just got my combo or snuck it from the office."

"Maybe Cassie Porter the office monitor?" Gia suggested.

"She's nice," Jake mused.

"See!" Emma said.

"So what now?" Jake asked, yawning again.

"Now you go home and get some sleep," Troy said.

"Yeah, instead of staying up all night on the flat box thing," Orion said.

"I had a paper due!" Jake protested.

Emma yawned. "See what you started. I had a late night finishing that thing too."

"Let's get you two home," Troy said.

"Maybe I'd better stand guard again," Orion said.

"That's creepy," Jake said. "Mom took out ground beef, I'll make spaghetti for dinner, she won't mind an extra person."

"Oh, uh, okay," Orion said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Don't worry, she'll be glad to meet a friend besides Noah," Jake said.

"Okay," Orion said.

* * *

The next morning, Troy again fell into step next to Jake as he walked into school.

"Did you know Orion was sleeping here?" Jake asked without preamble.

"He... _what_?" Troy asked.

"Yeah," Jake said. "I didn't think to ask him until last night when we had to tell my mom he was leaving and then he snuck back in."

"That's really not good," Troy said.

"I mean, there are worse places, there's showers and food and a roof and things, but it's just... really cold and impersonal," Jake said. "I can sneak him in tonight too, he won't think anything of it as long as you guys have me on Levira watch, but what do we do after that?"

Troy frowned. "I don't know. Maybe we can fix him up a corner in the command center?"

"There's no food or showers there," Jake pointed out. "And let's face it, when it comes to the school, food is a relative term."

"Oh no, what horrible thing are they serving us for lunch?" Noah asked, approaching them.

"Forget lunch, Orion's been sleeping here," Jake said.

"What? No. That's dumb. Mom's looking for a new lodger for the spare room, we'll put him in there," Noah said. "He should be able to afford it on what Ernie's paying him if he gets enough hours."

"We can frame it as a favor to you so you don't end up with another psycho living next door," Jake added. "Then we don't have to worry that he'll get offended."

"So who doesn't get offended about what?" Emma said. "And did I hear that your mom finally manage to evict your psycho renter?"

"Yeah, and we're going to talk Orion into moving in," Troy said. "Did you know he was living in the school?"

"What?" Emma yelped.

Gia barreled the last several feet to the little group. "Emma? What's wrong?"

"Orion's been living in the school!" 

"Hey, Noah, does your family still need a renter?"

Troy chuckled. "We're all on the same wavelength, it's creepy."

"Huh?"

"We already decided we're going to strong-arm Orion into moving into Noah's spare room," Jake said. "Keep up, Moran."

Gia rolled her eyes.

Jake opened his locker and yelped. "Oh this is too much."

"Ooh, Jake's secret admirer left him chocolates," Emma sing-songed.

Jake opened the card. "Not my secret admirer." He handed the card to Troy with shaking hands. "Levira."

"EW," Noah said. "Why would you want to date someone that's trying to destroy the entire planet? I mean, _no_."

"What do we do?" Jake said. "She wants me to meet her again. I'd be tempted to just not show up, but what if she gets really mad and decides to hurt someone?"

"We're going to need a plan," Troy said.

"How about I tell her I don't want to date her," Jake said. "Wait, I know, Gia could pretend to be my girlfriend."

"No," Gia said.

"Or actually be my girlfriend?" Jake asked hopefully.

Gia glared at him.

"Just come with me, hold my hand and let her draw her own conclusions?" Jake asked hopefully.

"No, Jake."

"Tell her you don't want to go out with anyone who will blow up the world," Noah said.

"Or just tell her you don't want to go out with her, period," Gia said.

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, true. Why am I worrying about hurting a monster's feelings?"

Noah snagged another envelope from the locker. "There's another card in here." He opened it. "Hey, it says 'same place today'. Sounds like your secret admirer wants to try again, Jake."

Jake flushed. 

"At least Levira didn't scare her off," Noah said.

"We should probably come with you again," Troy said. "Just in case she decides to take another crack at you."

"Why do I have to go again?" Jake asked.

"At least do whoever it is the courtesy of telling them you're not interested," Troy said, "though really, someone who won't mind if you flake out on them because of Ranger business when you can't really tell them why you flaked out, kind of worth checking into don't you think?"

"Why, when I could go out with someone who fights right beside me," Jake said, eyes on Gia.

Gia rolled her eyes. "I have class."

"What's with her?" Jake asked.

Emma rolled her eyes and left as well.

"Huh?" Jake said.

The bell rang.

Troy just sighed. "Come on, lover boy, let's get you to class."

* * *

The final bell rang, and Jake zipped to his locker, intent on gathering his things and getting out of dodge before the others came to find him. Why wouldn't they let this go?

"You don't get to sneak out, Jake," Noah said.

"But..."

"If nothing else, be a grown-up and go up, look her in the eyes, and tell her you're not interested," Noah said. "It's only polite."

Jake sighed. "I don't see why I need to do that when she didn't even have the courtesy to give me a check yes or no box, you know, while we're in seventh grade."

"Maybe she's afraid you won't go if you know who she is," Noah said. "If nothing else, then you'll know."

"There's only one girl for me, Noah, and she already knows I like her, so she wouldn't need all the subterfuge."

"Maybe you should keep your options open," Noah suggested, shaking his head.

"What?" Jake asked.

"Have you seen the way Gia's been reacting to you lately, bro, maybe you should just give it a rest?"

"Persistence pays," Jake said. "It's how my dad got my mom to go out with him the first time."

"Jake, your parents are divorced," Noah pointed out.

"So?" Jake asked.

Noah rolled his eyes and grabbed Jake by the arm. "Come on."

"Emma and Gia are camped out on the lawn with their English homework, Troy and Orion are tossing a frisbee nearby. We'll all be able to see you if anything goes wrong or anything shows up from above. Just stay cool." Noah reached into his pocket. "Breath mint?"

Jake sighed, and took it. "Will you get off of my back if I go?"

"Yes," Noah replied.

"Fine," Jake said, starting to walk under his own steam rather than being powered mostly by not wanting Noah to dislocate his arm. He needed that arm. He wondered if it was worth complaining that he would have to do this whole thing in front of Gia.

But he'd pretty much just said that was going to do it, though, so he was stuck, he guessed.

Jake followed Noah out of the back door of the school, seeing the empty soccer field, and the girls spread out on the grass on the sidelines, safely out of the way should anyone choose to start practicing soccer or football on the field. Troy and Orion were throwing a red frisbee behind the endzone.

Noah shifted his backpack. "Emma promised to help me with the English paper, so I'll be with the girls. Shout really loud if you need anything."

Jake checked his watch, and found it three minutes to the time he was appointed to be there. He stood in the middle of the field, feeling incredibly self conscious. He debated pulling out the soccer ball and practicing some moves. Maybe... he sighed, glancing over at the blanket where Gia and Emma were sitting close together, passing a book back and forth between them and Noah. Why couldn't he be over there again?

What was it going to take to get Gia to go out with him?

There was a flash of light and then Levira stood before him. Jake dropped his backpack and then fell into a defensive stance: arms up in front of him, feet apart.

"Jake!" she cried out, arms wide, revealing a bunch of flowers like the ones he'd found in his locker the other day. "My love! I'm so sorry that butler and then Salamandam disrupted our date yesterday, but I've made sure that Vekar will be keeping everyone busy today and we won't be disturbed."

Jake gulped. "You sent the flowers and the notes?"

"Yes, Jake, my love," the monster said, approaching him. 

Jake backpedaled. "Hey, guys!"

He looked around, but his friends were nowhere to be seen. He could only assume they'd gone to morph under cover--they were after all, in plain sight of the school and the teacher's lounge. Where was everyone?

"Why are you calling for your friends?" Levira asked. "I want it to be just us!"

"I don't!" Jake said. "I don't want to go out with you."

Levira kept coming forward. Jake backpedaled, Levira had a good foot on him; if she wanted to force him into something, well, he wasn't helpless, but he should probably morph so that he had a better chance of defending himself. 

He reached for his morpher, hesitating: they could still have an audience. "Last chance to just leave."

"Oh, Jake, don't be that way, we're meant to be."

"Hey, you heard him," Noah shouted.

Jake nearly sighed with relief as the rest of the team formed up on his flank, morphed.

"He said he didn't want to go out with you," Troy drew his gun.

Jake pulled out his morpher, he was going to morph, audience be damned.

"I'll be back when your friends aren't around to interrupt us," Levira said, disappearing in a flash of light just like how she'd come.

Jake sagged with relief. 

Troy clapped his shoulder. "Be right back," he whispered. "You should sit down."

Jake nodded, sitting on the field, not bothering to move. He was shaking.

The others dashed out. Jake took a deep breath, settling his morpher back on his belt. He could totally look out for himself.

"Are you okay?" Noah asked, sitting next to him.

"Pretty freaked out," Jake said.

Orion helped him up. "Come on, let's get you home. We can order pizza."

"Okay," Jake said, glad that there wouldn't be any question of where Orion would sleep that night. He was as glad to not be alone as he was to know that Orion wouldn't be sleeping in the school.

* * *

Orion had to drag Jake out of bed the next morning.

"Are you okay?" Orion asked when at last Jake picked up his backpack.

"Yeah?" Jake asked as he pulled it onto his shoulder.

"Well, usually your shoes match," Orion said. "And I get that I don't always understand Earth customs, but those soles don't look all that even."

Jake looked down; he was wearing one black shoe and one green shoe. "Ugh."

He went digging around, found the other green shoe, took off the black shoe and replaced it with the proper one. Then he looked down and checked to make sure his jeans were on the right way. He turned around so that Orion could see his back. "Are my tags in the right place?"

Orion leaned over, inspecting Jake's collar. "You're good. Are you sure you're ok? There's dark circles under your eyes. Does that happen to you when you don't sleep too?"

"Yeah," Jake replied.

"So you didn't sleep?" Orion asked.

"Not really, I kept dreaming that Levira was coming to get me for... I don't even know and I was powerless to stop her."

Orion squeezed his shoulder. "Got your morpher?"

Jake pulled it out of his backpack, showing Orion that it was still there. "Yup."

Orion pulled his morpher out of his pocket. "Me too. There's four more people out there with these, and we've all got your back. You won't have to take her on alone."

Jake nodded. He'd faced monsters before, plenty of times, but this was different.

This was personal.

"I can't just skip school, can I?" Jake asked.

"All five of you skipping school would attract unwanted attention," Orion said, "and you'd better believe if you don't show up the others are going to come looking."

Orion wrapped his arms around Jake's shoulders. "You're going to be OK, man. We're here for you."

"Yeah," Jake said, wriggling away from the hug.

"Maybe we lucked out and Vekar sent her back to the homeworld for going AWOL yesterday."

Jake sighed.

Orion drew Jake in again. "C'mon, man, let's get you to school."

This time, Jake didn't squirm away.

* * *

Orion stayed alongside Jake until they were within a block of the school. "I'll see you later."

Jake stared. "Orion?"

"I've got to get to work," Orion said. "I think Ernie's going to fire me if I miss any more for anything short of a monster attack."

"Can you walk one more block?" Jake blurted, surprised the words had even come out of his mouth.

Noah rushed up to them. "Got you covered, bro. Thanks for the heads up, Orion."

"Call if you need me," Orion said, hurrying towards the mall.

Jake raised an eyebrow. "What did he tell you exactly?"

Noah rested a hand on Jake's shoulder, steering him towards the school. "That you hadn't slept well and were trying to put on mismatched shoes, so that maybe you needed an escort to find your way to school."

Jake snorted, but it still felt better than the alternative. What was wrong with him anyway? Besides the bug ugly monster that could manhandle him crushing on him, he meant.

Troy fell into step with them as they entered the school. "You doing okay?"

"I tried to wear mismatched shoes and it got Orion's overprotectiveness radar on," Jake said.

Noah and Troy exchanged glances, apparently Jake wasn't fooling them, but they weren't saying anything, so there was that.

Jake hesitated at his locker, but he hadn't brought his history text home, and the teacher was very fond of making them read out loud in class rather than actually teaching them, so he needed it. He sighed, spinning the dial and opening the door.

An avalanche of red, flower scented paper cascaded onto the floor.

"Oh, _man_," Jake said, putting his back to the wall and sinking to the floor.

Troy opened one. "I'll spare you the bad poetry, but it's from Levira."

Jake pulled his legs up to his chest, folded his arms over his knees and rested his forehead on his arms. "Oh, man."

"At least she wants to meet at the quarry," Troy said, "should be easy enough to lay a trap there without worrying about our secret identities or anyone getting hurt. 4 o'clock." He started to hand Jake the envelope, but thought better of it. "Let me help you clean these up."

Two pairs of boots appeared in Jake's very limited field of vision.

"What happened?" Emma asked.

"Are these all from Levira?" Gia asked.

"Yeah," Troy said, "ambush at the quarry, 4 o'clock."

"Why me?" Jake asked.

Gia sat next to Jake. "Are you okay?"

"I've told her two days running that I don't want anything to do with her, why doesn't she leave me alone?"

"Maybe she thinks if she's just persistent, you'll succumb to her roguish charms," Gia said.

Jake lifted his head and made a face. "It's not... she's freaking me out. We had to fight her off yesterday, and I couldn't do it alone, if you guys hadn't been there... I guess it's because she's the bad guy?"

Gia snorted.

Jake frowned at her. "What?"

"OK, I'll admit she's taking it to eleven, but what exactly is driving you so crazy about this? I mean, shouldn't you be flattered?"

"She's a monster! She's trying to kill the whole world! I like someone else! I don't like her, I'm not the slightest bit attracted to her, and I'VE TOLD HER NO A BUNCH OF TIMES!" Jake was shouting.

Gia laid a hand on his arm, and Jake felt like lighting struck him. He groaned.

"Kind of like I've been doing to you the last few months? Without the threats of physical harm, I mean?"

"You could if you wanted to," Gia pointed out.

Jake snorted. "I doubt I could take you in a fight, Gia."

"Other women, though."

Jake stared at her. "I wouldn't."

"_You_ wouldn't," Gia said.

"Is this how you've been feeling? Like I've been completely ignoring anything you want, that I see you as less than a person?"

"Yeah," Gia said.

"I'm an asshole," Jake said.

"You've been acting like one," Gia said. "You don't have to _keep_ acting like one though."

Jake nodded. "I'm sorry. If you've been feeling half as crappy as I've been feeling since last night..." He trailed off, unable to put things into words.

"If you stop, I'll pretend it never happened," Gia said. "You're a good friend, Jake. I'd really appreciate it if you could be happy with that."

Jake nodded. "I might need a little time, but I could live with that." He shuddered. "What do we do about Levira though?"

"The same thing we do about every other monster that messes with our team," Gia said. "Blow her up!"

The bell rang. Gia scrambled to her feet, then offered Jake a hand up.

"Come on, the last thing you need is another tardy for history."

"You noticed?"

"I worry about my friends."

Jake really liked the sound of that.

* * *

Jake approached the quarry with shaking legs. He knew the others were in position. He knew he had his morpher handy, but it wasn't enough. He was afraid to face Levira, and every step he took made him think about how he'd been making Gia feel for the last several months.

He hoped she'd never been scared for her life: sure, Levira didn't seem to want to hurt him, but what would happen when she realized that he was never going to return her affections? Or when she realized that he'd brought the whole team along or...

Jake took a breath. He could do this. He was a Power Ranger, and he wasn't taking on this monster by himself. He had back up.

"Jake-y poo!" Levira called as she saw him.

Jake shuddered. "Don't call me that." He couldn't escalate a battle. He couldn't just attack her, it would be against Gosei's rules, against the rules handed down to Gosei from Zordon so many years ago. "I just came to tell you that it's not my friends that are the problem: I'm not into you. Please just leave me alone."

The monster approached him, her face unreadable (Jake wondered if her face was even articulated for facial expressions-- he'd clearly been hanging out with Noah way too long if he was worried about that.) She reached out her arms, and scooped him up.

"Put me down, "Jake said, "last chance."

Levira wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tight. "Jake! My love! I know you and I could be so happy together, if only you could see it!"

There was another flash of light and the black and white creature from a couple of days past appeared. "Stay away from her, she's mine!"

"I'm not yours!" Levira said. "I'm Jake's!"

"You're not mine! I don't want to be yours. Dude, you guys can work this out between yourselves, I just want to get out of here." Jake tried to squirm away, but Levira held him firmly.

It turned out to be just as well, because the black and white butler thing fired at him and Levira manhandled him out of the way.

"Guys, help!" Jake shouted. Where the heck was the cavalry?

They must've been frozen with shock with the odd sight of seeing him tossed around like a rag doll, because Levira screamed in agony as she was struck by shots from Noah and Gia's pistols. She dropped Jake, he rolled away and pulled out his morpher.

"Super Mega Mode!" That felt better. He got off a shot towards Levira, then raced to join the line of the others.

The knot in his stomach eased, as it always did when they formed up in battle. They were together. Together, they could take on anything.

"Um, guys, who do we shoot first?" Noah asked.

"What if we just snuck away and let them destroy each other?" Jake asked. "I mean, he's creeping on her as badly as she's creeping on me, so what if we just leave them to it? Don't they kind of deserve each other?"

"What happens if the battle leaves the quarry though?" Troy asked. "Someone else might get hurt."

Jake hated it when Troy was right; unfortunately, it happened a lot. That was probably why he got the red suit.

"OK, so what's the plan?" Jake asked. "I mean, what do we do, just form the canon, aim it at whoever's least injured and hope we can blow the second one up before the first one grows?"

"Got a better one?" Troy asked.

"I get in my Q-Rex zord while you guys blow up the monsters, that way if one grows first, I can fight it while you blow up the other one."

"Good idea, Orion." Troy said. "You get in the zord. Jake, you want point?"

"Oh, yes please," Jake said.

They formed the canon, surprised that neither monster had ceased their posturing, bickering, or blasting at each other enough to realize that they had a bigger threat than some kind of lovers quarrel (Jake had to wonder if Levira claimed to care about him so much why she hadn't spared him a second glance since he'd joined the rest of his team.) Of course, checkerboard guy was keeping her pretty busy--but he was taking most of the hits. This suited Jake fine.

He took aim at Levira and fired. Levira ducked at the last moment, and the shot glanced off the black and white guy, hitting his metal weapon. Part hit him, causing him to stumble. The rest ricocheted and hit Levira in the head.

She looked around, confused. "What am I doing here?" She threw up an arm, and vanished in a flash of light. Well, she was gone, Jake would have to settle for that. 

Black and white guy turned on him. "What are you doing? If you couldn't have her no one could?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "She left, you idiot. I told you, I didn't want her," Jake replied. "I told her I didn't want her, she didn't listen. But know what else? She said she didn't want you, and you didn't listen. If you cared about her, you'd listen to her." He pulled the trigger, and black and white guy exploded.

Jake turned to Gia. "I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you, either."

"Water. Bridge," Gia said. 

They took their ropes to the sky ship in silence, waiting on the crow's nest to keep watch for the black and white guy to grow, but he never appeared. The five Earth born Rangers were leaning over the railing with their helmets off when Orion approached.

"I think they're not going to hit his Maximizer," Orion said, joining them. "How are you doing, Jake?"

"Feeling like a bit of a jack ass," Jake said.

"Water. Bridge," Gia said. "I'm really done with talking about it, I'm glad it's over, we're friends, let's just put it behind us."

"How about I buy you a FroYo to make it up to you?" Jake suggested. He did a quick mental calculation. "Or the whole team?"

"I say we go for FroYo and let Jake and Gia figure out who's paying," Emma suggested.

"Why am I going into work on my night off?" Orion muttered as he followed the others to the Sky Ship's exit.

End


End file.
